Junction-signal for mining-railroads.



W. KLEMAN. JUNCTION SIGNAL FOB MINING RAILROADS. AI'PLIOATION TILED MAY15, 1909.

Patented Dem 14,1909.

William Elemam R R EB nnnnnnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nWILLIAM KLEMAN, OF PORTAGE, PENNSYLVANIA.

JUNCTION-SIGNAL FOR MINING-RAILROADS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 14, 1909.

Application filed May 15, 1909. Serial No. 496,136.

' T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VILLIAM KLEMAN, citizen of the United States,residing at Portage, in the county of Cambria and State of Pennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in J unction-Signalsfor Mining-Railroads, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to signals used at the junction of mine headingsfor the purpose of indicating on a cross heading that a. car isproceeding along the main heading and will shortly cross the junction ofthe tracks leading from the cross heading on to the main line of theroad.

In its general construction the invention includes a trackway upon whichcars may run and depressible levers attached to the trackway inproximate contact with the sides of the rails thereof, these leversbeing connected by bell crank levers to a longitudinally extending rodcarrying upon it a screen. Back of the screen is located a lantern orother light, so that when the rod is operated in one direction the lightwill be exposed and when operated in the other direction the light willbe concealed. In its normal position the light is concealed denotingthat there is no car about to pass the junction of the two lines ofrails, but when the light is exposed, an operator in a transverseheading may see the light and thus know that a car is coming along themain track and will cross the mouth of the heading, and thus he iswarned against sending forward another car down the side heading, whichmight arrive at the junction point at the same period with the first carand thus cause an accident which would inevitably damage the cars andmight cause loss of life. Many accidents have occurred in mines on thisaccount. The cars are generally operated by gravity and as a consequencecollisions at the junctions of the headings with the main tunnel arevery liable to occur. Such accidents are entirely prevented by myinvention. In the drawings I have shown my invention as applied to thejunctions of the transversely extending headings with the main line.

For a full understanding of the invention and the merits thereof andalso to acquire a knowledge of the details of construction, reference isto be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my invention as applied to tracks at thejunction of two headings. Fig. 2 is a. longitudinal face view of thesignal apparatus; Fig. 3 is a perspective view enlarged showing theyielding bell crank lever; and, Fig. 4 is a flag mentary elevation ofone of the rails and the adjacent track lever.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

Referring to the drawings, A designates a main track and B the sidetrack, the main track extending up one heading and the track B extendingup a transverse heading, the rails of track B oining track A in theordinary manner, so that the cars coming out of the heading B will beshifted on to the track A, the track as usual consisting of two rails.The outer rail 2 on the track A, at points on either side of the unctionof track B, is provided with laterally shiftable and vertically movablelevers 3 and 4:. These levers at one end are pivoted, as at 5, thispivoted connection being such that the levers may have a pivotal motionin a hori' zontal plane as well as a pivotal movement in a verticalplane. To this end a simple link connecting the ends of the levers withthe tie is sufiicient. The free ends of the levers are beveled, as at 6,so as to make contact with the rails 2, and the upper faces of thelevers at their free ends are also inclined or beveled, as at 7.

Mounted upon the tie or other support adjacent to the free ends of thelever 3 is a bell crank lever 8 of peculiar construction, the details ofwhich will be hereinafter described. Adjacent to the free end of thelever is a bell crank lever 9. Both of these levers at the ends of theirhorizontal legs are connected to the track levers 3 and 4: bytransversely extending pins 10. These pins are fast in the free ends ofthe levers 3 and 4t and extend through openings in the bell crank levers8 and 9, thus the track levers can move transversely with relation tothe bell cranks S and 9, but any vertical movement of the pins with thetrack levers 3 and l will operate the bell cranks. It, of course, willbe obvious that a depression of lever 4: will operate the bell cranksreversely to a depression of lever 3. The upwardly extending legs of thebell crank levers are connected by a longitudinally extending rod 11which the levers 3 and 4:, I provide stop pins 17 may be supportedintermediate of its length by a support 12, which on its upper face 18grooved or formed with an eye, so that the rod 11 will be guidedtherein, but may yet have perfect freedom of longitudinal movement. Atthat point of the rod 11 which is i directly opposite to the heading B,I provide a screen 13. One portion of the screen 1S provided with anopening 1 1 and the other portion is solid. Directly opposite theheading B and behind the screen 13, I support any suitable light 15.This may be a gas et, an electric light or a lamp, and I have shown itas supported on a post 16. WVhen the lever 3 is depressed this screenwill be shifted longitudinally in a direction toward the lever 3, andhence the opening 14 will register with the light, and permit the lightto be seen up the heading B. lVhen, however, the lever at is actuated,the reverse takes place and the screen is shifted to conceal the light.

In order to prevent too great a throw of which engage over the upperends of the levers and not only limit their inward movement, but limittheir vertical movement also. As a means of forcing the levers 3 and 4over against the rail, I preferably provide springs 18 of any suitableconstruction, one end of these springs being connected to the levers 3and 4 and the other to any suitable abutment.

The operation of that portion of my invention that I have now describedis as follows: The wheels of a car moving in the direction of the arrowalong the heading A will depress the lever 3, thus drawing upon the rod11 and exposing the light to an observer in the heading B, thus warninghim against sending a car out of the heading and on to the main track.The signal will remain set in this position until the car has reachedthe lever 4 when it will be depressed to reverse the movement of thescreen 13 and obscure the light. Cars moving in the reverse direction,that is up the heading A, will not operate the levers for the reasonthat the car wheels will force the levers 3 and 4 outward against theforce of the springs 18, the rims of the wheels contacting with theinner faces of the levers. 'One of the ditli culties, however, of theconstruction above described is that it might be that a car moving inthe direction of the arrow might arrive upon the lever 3 at the sametime that another car moving in a like direction would arrive upon thelever 41, and as a consequence the rod 11 would be subjected to strainand the bell cranks might be broken. For this reason I form the bellcrank 8 in a peculiar manner. It consists preferably of two arms 19 and20 which are pivoted upon a common axis 21. These arms are connected attheir extremities by a spring 22 which tends to hold the arms in theirproper rectangular relation. Attached to each of the arms 19 and 20adjacent to their inner ends are the blocks 23 which will abut againsteach other when any force is exerted which would tend to press the armstogether, thus the spring 22 resists an expansion of the arms beyond aright angle and the blocks 23 prevent the arms being pushed together.Thus under normal circumstances a depression of the arm 20 will throughthe spring 22 draw over the arm 19 which will draw upon the rod 11. Areverse movement of the rod 11 will be transmitted to the arm 19 andblock 23 and to the other block 23 and the arm 20. It will be seen thatthese blocks 23 act as stops whereby the arms are prevented from movinginward toward each other, and hence I do not wish to be limited to theuse of the blocks 23, but any form of stop preventing the approach ofthe arms to each other is within the spirit of my invention. WVith thisconstruction it will be seen that no damage will occur to the mechanismeven-though two cars are upon the levers 3 and 4 at the same time, as inthat case the spring 22 will yield and the arm 20 will move downward.The bell crank 9 is solid, or in other words, the two arms of the bellcrank are rigidly connected to each other, it being sufiicient if one ofthe bell cranks is yielding, as described, or some yielding connectioncould be placed between the rod 11 and one of the bell crank levers toaccomplish the same end, although I prefer the construction hereafterspecified.

It will be seen that my device is very simple and that it isparticularly adapted for coal mines or other underground loca tionswhere a lamp is used as a signal means, and where one passage or headingcommunicates with another at an angle to the second. My mechanism ispositive in its operation, and as the temperature is practicallyconstant in mines there will be no danger of expansion or contraction ofthe metal. Preferably the bell cranks, rods, etc. are made of tubing,though I do not wish to limit myself to this.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new is;

1. A junction signal for tracks comprising opposed bell crank levers,opposed track levers arranged adjacent to one rail of a track andadapted to be operated by the Wheels of a car passing thereover, thefree ends of said track levers being connected to said bell cranklevers, a rod connecting the opposed bell crank levers and shiftabletherewith, a light mounted to one side of said rod at the point ofjunction of the tracks, and a screen carried by said rod, this screen inone position of the rod concealing the light and in the other posit-ionpermitting the light to be seen.

2. A junction signal for tracks comprising opposed bell crank levers, arod connecting the bell crank levers, a screen carried by the rod andhaving an opening therethrough, a light mounted behind the screen andadapted to show through said opening when the screen is shifted, andtrack levers pivoted at one end to the track bed and at the other endhaving a pivotal laterally shiftable engagement with the ends of thebell cranks, said track levers being shiftable by the passage of a carwheel in one direction but depressible by the passage of a car wheel inthe other direction.

3. A junction signal for tracks comprising opposed bell crank levers, alongitudinal rod connecting the bell crank levers, a screen carried bythe rod having an opening, a light supported behind said screen to showthrough said opening when the rod and screen are shifted to oneposition, a track lever connected to one of said bell cranks and adaptedto be depressed by a car wheel passing over said lever to withdraw thescreen and permit the light to be observed, and means on the other bellcrank lever for returning the screen to its obscuring position.

a. A junction signal for tracks including opposed bell crank levers, alongitudinal rod connecting the bell crank levers, a screen carriedthereby and having an opening, a light located behind this screen andobservable through said opening when the screen is moved to oneposition, a track lever having its free end connected to one of saidbell crank levers and mounted adjacent to the track to be operated bythe wheels of a car passing in one direction to shift the screen to itsopen position, and a track lever mounted adjacent to the other bellcrank lever and associated with the track, whereby on the passage ofsaid car past the same, the wheels thereof shall operate the last namedtrack lever to return the screen to its closed position.

In a junction signal for tracks, opposed bell crank levers, alongitudinally extending rod connecting the bell crank levers, a screencarried by the rod and having an opening therethrough, a light mountedbehind the screen and adapted to be obscured when the screen is in oneposition, opposed track levers extending in the same direction andassociated with each of the bell crank levers, said track levers havingbeveled upper faces and mounted for engagement in a hori zontal andvertical plane, and springs forcing the track levers into contact withthe track.

A junction signal for tracks comprising opposed bell crank levers, a rodconnecting the bell crank levers, a screen carried by the rod and havingan opening therethrough, a light mounted behind the screen and adaptedto be obscured when the screen is in one position, track leversextending in the same direction, the free ends of said levers contactingwith the track rails and having beveled upper faces, said levers beingmounted for vertical and horizontal movement, a connection between saidlevers and the bell crank levers whereby a vertical movement of theformer shall cause a vertical movement of the latter, and a yieldingresilient member located between the lower arms of the opposed bellcranks and adapted to permit a movement of the bell cranks in oppositedirections to each other at the same time.

T. A junction signal for tracks comprising opposed bell cranks, aconnecting rod, a signal actuated by the connecting rod, track leversengageable by the wheels of a car and operating said bell cranks to movethem in opposite directions, the arms of one of said bell cranks havingpivotal engagement with a common axis, the free ends of the arms beingconnected by a retractile spring to permit the arms to yield in adirection away from each other, and stops engaging with each arm whenthe arms move toward each other.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM KLEMAN. [1,. s] lVitnesses PETER ODEN THAL, HARRY IMAY.

